协商民主在司法领域的应用——以人民陪审员制度改革为例

The Application of Deliberative Democracy in the Field of Judicature:Taking the Recent Reform of People's Jurors System for Example

近十年前,在中国法学界曾经发生过一场关于司法民主化和司法职业化的著名争论。这场争论之所以针锋相对,相持不下,是因为双方都忽视了理解司法与民主之关系的第三种思路,即协商民主。对于2015年的人民陪审员制度改革,可以从协商民主的角度进行解读,而且这种解读还表明,协商民主确实可以为在中国的社会政治环境中推进司法民主和司法协商提供可行的路径。协商民主还可以为进一步完善人民陪审员制度贡献改革思路:一是认真对待协商民主的平等价值,二是更好地践行协商民主的协商内涵。

Nearly a decade ago,there was a famous debate happening between lawyers supporting judicial democratization and those insisting judicial professionalization as an approach to China's rule-of-law development. But both parties of the contest failed to appreciate the value of deliberative democracy in dealing with the relationship between judicature and democracy. The interpretation of the recent reform of people's jurors system from the perspective of deliberative democracy shows that, judicial democracy and deliberation can be well advanced in China in accordance with the principles and techniques of deliberative democracy. For the future reform of the system of people's jurors,deliberative democracy contributes two solutions: to take the value of equality more seriously and to make more advantages out of deliberative techniques.